Photo: Miansari66 · CC0
Lasagna
Italy's baked layered pasta — sheets stacked with rich meat ragu, silky bechamel, and Parmigiano, then baked golden. A make-and-share casserole, perfect for a gathering.
Ingredients
- Lasagna sheets · no-boil or pre-cooked12
- Parmigiano · grated80 g
- Mozzarella · shredded, optional150 g
- Meat ragu
- Ground beef · or beef + pork400 g
- Onion, carrot, celery · finely diced (soffritto)1 handful
- Garlic2 cloves
- Whole tomatoes · 400g1 can
- Tomato paste1 tbsp
- Red wine · optional0.5 cup
- Olive oil, salt, pepper · to taste
- Bechamel
- Butter3 tbsp
- Flour3 tbsp
- Milk · warm2.5 cups
- Nutmeg & salt · a pinch
Steps
- ⏲ 40 min
Ragu: saute the soffritto in olive oil, brown the meat, then add tomato paste, wine, and whole tomatoes and simmer 30-40 minutes on low. Season.
- ⏲ 5 min
Bechamel: cook the flour in the butter 1 minute, then whisk in the warm milk gradually until thick; finish with nutmeg and salt.
- ⏲ 8 min
Spread a thin layer of ragu in a baking dish, then layer sheets → ragu → bechamel → Parmigiano.
- ⏲ 2 min
Build 4-5 layers the same way; top the last with bechamel, mozzarella, and Parmigiano.
- ⏲ 35 min
Bake at 180C for 30-40 minutes until golden on top and bubbling at the edges. Cover with foil, then uncover at the end so it doesn't burn.
- ⏲ 15 min
Rest 10-15 minutes so it sets, then cut. Cutting straight away makes it collapse.
Tips & Variations
Variations
- Vegetarian: Roasted vegetables, spinach, and ricotta instead of meat.
- Spinach-ricotta: Use ricotta and spinach layers instead of bechamel.
- No-boil sheets: Easier — just be generous with the sauce.
- Use leftover bolognese: Build it with ragu you already have.
Tips
- Rich ragu, silky bechamel — the contrast of the two sauces is what makes lasagna.
- No-boil sheets are convenient but go dry with too little sauce — spread it generously.
- Start and end with sauce so the pasta doesn't dry out.
- A 10-15 minute rest after baking is essential — cut too soon and it runs.
- Bake covered with foil, then uncover for the last 10 minutes to brown the top.
The basics behind this dish
- Dry Heat and Moist Heat: Choosing the MethodRoasting and simmering are not hotter and cooler versions of one thing — they are different families. One builds aroma, the other builds tenderness, and most good cooking uses them in sequence.
- What Your Oven Is Actually DoingThe dial and the air rarely agree. Why preheating takes twenty minutes rather than five, why convection means lowering the number, and what an air fryer actually is.
- Browning and the Maillard ReactionMeat fails to brown for one of three reasons: it is wet, the pan is cool, or you put too much in at once. Plus how the brown film stuck to the pan becomes your sauce.
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